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Upbeat PM hints at spring election

Buoyed by this week's Quebec election results, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has dropped a big hint in the direction of an imminent spring election, saying he wants to "get things done in the next few weeks."

OTTAWA–Buoyed by this week's Quebec election results, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has dropped a big hint in the direction of an imminent spring election, saying he wants to "get things done in the next few weeks."

Federal Conservatives are triumphal in the wake of Monday's Quebec vote, believing the combination of a Liberal minority government and a strengthened Action démocratique du Québec represents a double-fisted surge of support for Harper if he decides to go to the polls.

Conservative MP Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, is saying the provincial election results could translate into a "whole lot of seats" for the Harper Tories.

The Quebec Liberals, under Premier Jean Charest, won 48 seats in Monday's vote. Mario Dumont's ADQ became the official Opposition with 41 seats and the Parti Québécois came in third with 36.

"We're feeling good about the fact that the separatists are at their lowest point since 1970, in 37 years, and the Bloc is at their lowest point ever in the polls. That's a sign of Stephen Harper's success as a leader for Canada," Kenney said.

Harper insists that it isn't his plan to hold an election and he even reportedly pulled aside Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe this week to offer that reassurance privately.

Talking to reporters on his way into the Commons yesterday, Harper said: "I know everybody sees election opportunities in this but the public didn't elect me to sit around looking for election opportunities."

But then Harper also dropped a warning – and an apparent deadline – to the opposition parties. "We've got a lot of work to continue to get things done. We're getting things done. ... And I hope the opposition will heed some of these results and help us get some things done in the next few weeks."

This feeds into the speculation about Harper engineering his defeat soon after he delivers his new and improved "green plan" and after the two-week Easter/Passover break that starts when the Commons rises on Friday. The two dates now floating most often through the rumour mill are May 28 and June 4.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said yesterday he had no doubt Harper was spoiling for an election, but he warned there are perils in trying to play both provincial and federal politics.

"Quebecers are very politically sophisticated and we can tell the difference between what's at stake at the provincial level and what's at stake at the federal level," Dion said, repeatedly using "we" when he talked of Quebec, to underline the difference between himself and the Alberta MP who is prime minister.

Dion said the federal campaign in Quebec will revolve around far different issues than the ones that drove the provincial campaign – the war in Afghanistan, or support for social programs, for instance – on which Dion believes the Liberal position is far closer to majority Quebec public opinion.

Dion said he won't fight the next election campaign in Quebec apologizing for Canada and the federal government, as he believes Harper has done. "I think it is time to have a prime minister who is making the case for Canada in Quebec," he said.

Harper has cultivated a very public alliance with Charest – including last week's big-spending budget. But there aren't many Conservatives saying they share Charest's pain at going from majority to minority rule in Monday night's vote. That's because the Tories also have been more quietly suggesting that the ADQ, with leader Mario Dumont, is an ideological and organizational ally as well.

Dumont, however, doesn't appear to agree. "I hope that's not how I'm perceived. That would be a mistake."

There is no question that the government is trying to wrap up business in Ottawa. There's been a sudden surge in Commons committees delivering their final reports, while the Conservatives handily survived a confidence vote on the federal budget last night, with the help of the Bloc Québécois.

Duceppe put on a brave face about the blow suffered by the sovereignty movement.

"The results aren't all that in line with what our expectations were ... it is self-evident that we can't go forward with sovereignty under such conditions," said Duceppe, who will likely be pressured to take the PQ reins if André Boisclair steps down.

A new poll out yesterday also showed that it could be premature for Harper's Tories to be holding dreams of a majority.

The Decima survey, provided to The Canadian Press, puts the Tories at 35 per cent support nationally, with the Liberals at 31 per cent. The Tories would likely need at least 40 per cent to secure a majority.

The results, gathered Thursday through Sunday, indicate no bump for the party in the wake of last week's federal budget.

In Quebec, however, the Tories finished ahead of the Liberals for the first time in five months with 25 per cent support. The Liberals were at 20 per cent, while the Bloc led with 34. In Ontario, the Liberals have 41 per cent compared to 33 per cent for the Tories.

A Leger Marketing survey released today showed a surprisingly different result. It has the Conservatives well in the lead.

With files from Canadian Press, Tonda MacCharles and Sean Gordon

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